Coastal police quarantine 300 fishermen

TNN | Apr 7, 2020, 04:30 IST

Police have so far quarantined around 300 fishermen since the lockdown

Thiruvananthapuram: After the state borders have been sealed barring interstate movement of citizens as part of the nationwide lockdown, the coastal police manning the state’s coast are having a tough time. Fishermen who had gone to other neighbouring as well as far off states for fishing for days together have unknowingly made them one of the most vulnerable and potential carriers of the Coronavirus. And they have been returning by boats and landing at state coast, violating the lockdown norm to stay put at where ever one had stranded on March 24. As many as 300 such persons have been intercepted and home quarantined by the coastal police since the day one of lockdown.
The interceptions were made mainly by the coastal police at Vizhinjam, Poovar, Arthungal, Neendakara and Thalassery coastal police limits. Vizhinjam police alone have intercepted 251 fishermen and, after informing Disha and health workers, sent them on quarantine.
“We received information from our intelligence division as well as coastal population that many fishing boats that had gone towards far off coasts from are returning. If they land here and mix with the local population, it would be extremely difficult for us to locate them as well as trace their route maps. So the safest option was to send all of them on quarantine by intercepting them the moment they land at the coast,” ADGP (coastal police) K Padmakumar said.
But for the coastal police, it was easily said than done. Unlike on the roads that could be closed and the travellers intercepted, the fishing boats could land anywhere along the 560-km long coast. The 18 coastal police stations along the coast each with an approximate jurisdiction of 30km coastline, were pressed into action both day and night. “The only option available to us was to keep a round-the-clock vigil and rely on the information that was being shared by our intelligence units, coastal wardens and the Kadalora Jagratha Samithis,” Padmakumar said.
The coastal wardens, 180 of them from the local fishermen community who were inducted to the force and distributed among 14 coastal police stations, acted as force multipliers for the police in obtaining information from the local community about those who are returning to the state.
These fishermen travelled back after touching the coasts and mingling with the local population in several states. “When we intercepted them and spoke to them, many of them had come back after months and some even forayed as far as to the Gulf coasts. Also, on their way back, they had touched several coasts, including Gujarat and Maharashtra, and mingled with the local population for food and fuel,” Vizhinjam coastal police CI H Anil Kumar said.
The police also had more difficulty in intercepting them as most of them landed in the night time. “We had put our men on duty at the main landing points. Also, we observed that most of them come and land during the night time,” Anil Kumar said.